Beneath a Falling Star
by Cutejayjay2011
Summary: As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons you’ve gotta make lemonade. But when you get a second chance, what exactly are you supposed to do with it? As the rules of the universe dictate you’ve gotta try your hardest to survive, especially if you’re a brand new part of MCU. Luckily for this OC, living in a place you’ve idolized shouldn’t be so hard... right?


I never realized how much things would change after that first step. I could never imagine the years of horror and abuse that would lead to these catastrophic turns of events or how much pain and sacrifice would be needed in order to make things right. No one would ever know the true amount of bloodshed and bodies left behind from the massacre in the years that followed, and it all started with a single step. The step of a child not yet physically 9, but mentally 16 years older. One who already knew the secrets of the cosmos and the truth surrounding them.

It had all started on that fateful day, the day of my death. It was quite peaceful at first, very warm and very sunny, the first day of actual spring and a Friday. I had been waiting outside for my ride as I didn't have my license yet and my mother was to pick me up from school. By the time it hit four o'clock I was the only one left waiting, and my mother still hadn't arrived yet. Growing impatient I had grabbed my things and began walking home. That was my first mistake. My house was far away from any sort civilization, hidden down a backroad leading into the woods. After years of constantly moving we had found a place that we could call home, but not without being warned of danger. Yes, that's right, danger. Now, living in the wooded areas of Nebraska wasn't ideal for me but it had its perks. One such perk was my own secret hideout in the woods surrounding our house. Often times I wouldn't come home because I was too busy sitting in my base, not only doing homework, but building things as well. Inventing things was a hobby of mine, one that had sprouted when I was seven years old. My father had been an engineer for the air force at the time, after he chose to enlist in order to use the G.I. Bill to pay for college. He had taken my brothers and I with him to his workplace on base as they were having a goodbye-celebration for one of the generals on base that my father had happened to be close to.

Of course, being only seven I had a short attention span, and it wasn't long before I had wandered off. That was when I saw it.

It was over twenty feet in length and five feet wide and was being held up so that the nose of the plane pointed towards the ceiling, almost touching it. The piece of technology was a work of art, as extravagant and amazing as Van Goh's _Starry Night_ , but at the same time it was scary, somewhat like the paintings of Cindy Sherman (#140.) The imposing figure towering over my small seven-year-old frame was a sight to behold, and as tall as I was for my age, this was ten times as tall and five times wider than I was and could ever become.

I later found that it was a new type of aero plane developed by NATO forces in case of a nuclear war against the allies. Of course, at the time I had thought of the aero plane as an amazing feat of wonder, and it became a goal of mine to build something just like it when I was older, but even better. Something that topped even that, a plane that had been built by hundreds of people from many different countries.

Looking back now it was a silly dream, but that dream became my drive throughout the years.

I smiled as I reached my treehouse base, climbing up the ladder and opening the door. Cracking my knuckles i put down my bag and went to my desk where I had been studying.

What was I studying you may ask?

Thermonuclear astrophysics. Yes, that's right. Thermonuclear astrophysics.

You see, I had recently rewatched one of my favorite movies of all time. The Avengers. It had come out when I was eleven, and at the time I had not really understood more than the fact that a Norse god named Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, had decided to try and take over the earth with the help of the Chitauri and was beaten by a group of the earths mightiest heroes. Now, 16, I decided to rewatch the MCU movies (all in chronological order of course,) and the mention of Selvig's work in astrophysics had peaked my interest. Being mainly into engineering I didn't have much of an idea of astrophysics, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to try, after all, Tony Stark had done so in a single night!

"Okay." I muttered to myself. " **Nuclear astrophysics** is an interdisciplinary branch of physics involving close collaboration among researchers in various sub-fields of nuclear physics and astrophysics, with significant emphasis in areas such as stellar modeling, measurement and theoretical estimation of nuclear reaction rates, cosmology, cosmochemistry, gamma ray, optical and X-ray astronomy, and extending our knowledge about nuclear lifetimes and masses." I read the paragraph aloud, eyes practically crossing as I began to understand the phrasing. "In general terms, nuclear astrophysics aims to understand the origin of the chemical elements and the energy generation in stars." I blinked before rereading the paragraph. Despite the difficulty of it, it wasn't so hard to understand, that being said it took me a few tries in order to get the gist of everything . I sighed before breaking it down so I could understand it easier as to not make any mistakes.

I continued my hours of study, losing track of time and not taking any breaks. This was my second mistake. It wasn't until I began squinting due to lack of sunlight that I realized what time it was. Eyes wide, I packed up all my things and began exiting my treehouse, cursing as I checked the time on my watch. It was 7:47, I was late by over two hours! _"Mom's going to kill me!"_ I thought to myself while jumping the rest of the way down the ladder and only taking a second to glance around before accidentally sprinting further into the woods. This was my third mistake.

I unknowingly ran the wrong way, and before I could realize that I did, it was already dark. In my haste to get home on time I left my flashlight on the desk, and my phone was dead from forgetting to charge it the night previous (my fourth mistake.) By this time I knew that I was lost, and the only thing that I could do was wait until sunrise.

One thing I had forgotten though, was a danger that had come to town. One that was headed straight for me.


End file.
